I certainly understand and agree with Carl's concerns as expressed in the article he included in his email. The use by the Pentagon of modeling and IT programs for present and future urban battles is rather scary. This is a moral question; should complexity/chaos/ABM expert lend their knowledge and skills to promote such warfare? I think not. The UN currently does confront serious peacekeeping issues in such poor mega-urban areas such as Port-au-Prince, Haiti and in other failed states where its peacekeeping troops are involved. However, this is morally different than a world power using IT & applied complexity to consolidate its hegemony or extend its empire. Each expert must make a moral choice on this issue and it might be useful to develop consensus based guidelines on this issue (without any evident or smelly flatulence!). As climate change and global warming create urban migration, these problems will become more pressing than ever. cheers Paul
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